Positive Effects of Sports

By Jenna Smith

It was 6 am and our college soccer team was getting in some extra training before classes started for the day. We looked so professional wearing our custom sports jackets! I was running hard and about halfway through our workout, the thoughts started creeping in. “I don’t have to be out here doing this. This is so hard! It’s so early! My legs already hurt.” Our coach, with his watchful eye, was there with his stopwatch in hand. I thought to myself, “What if I just fell over and pretended to twist my ankle? Then I could be done with this workout.” I finished the workout, pushing through the pain and making time as thoughts of fatigue and giving up quickly went away.

It was early in the season and we had big dreams of a National Championship. With that goal in sight, we trained hard, harder than I thought I was capable of.

Over the course of my college career, our coach taught us that although there are many things we can’t control (like injuries, field conditions, luck, etc.) the one thing we can control is how hard we work. We can control the effort we put into our fitness. So we ran and ran and trained hard, pushing ourselves to the limit. By the end of my senior year, we played in the Division I Women’s Final Four Soccer Championship with no subs and set a record for the longest game in NCAA history. Playing in 4 overtimes and a total of 2 1/2 hours of continuous action. The ESPN announcers called us “The Iron Women of Portland” because we just wouldn’t stop, and we never gave up.

When I think about my life in sports and what it has done for me, I can see how sports have shaped my whole life. Sports set me up for success and taught me how to deal with failure. Sports have taught me how to work hard. I’ve learned about responsibility, commitment, and how to prepare well. So if you have a passion for sports and you want to try out something new, make sure you prepare yourself for it, pick up some womens lacrosse sticks, get yourself a football you can practice with, do something that ignites that passion for a sport.

In a 75-year Harvard study, researchers found that children who learned how to work hard became more independent and successful adults. Whether hard work is learned through daily chores or daily sports practice, the effect is positive.

I was a high school All-American and was used to being captain of the team and the stand-out player. Coming into college as a freshman meant I was filling up the water jugs for the team and pumping up balls. I quickly learned that you don’t get to start at the top. You have to work hard to move up the ladder. I put my time in at the bottom and worked hard to get where I wanted. Working hard seems to be becoming a lost art. Instead of starting at entry level jobs and working hard to move up within the company, many of today’s young workers come in with a sense of entitlement, unwilling to start below what they think they are worth, which causes them to struggle and oftentimes give up.

Hard work as an athlete doesn’t just mean running and training on the field of competition. It also means working hard in school to keep up your grades. I had to be responsible with my time, making sure I finished my assignments to the best of my ability in order to be eligible to compete for my school. I learned to work hard in all aspects of my life.

Being involved in sports also gives you an immediate mentor, in the form of a coach. When someone is invested in you personally, this generally translates to the likelihood of individual success down the road. I have had the privilege of working with some amazing coaches over the years. Coaches that taught me life lessons and gave me advice that has helped to shape who I am today. Some pieces of wisdom that my coaches have given me and that I try to live by are:

“Take pride in whatever you do. Whether that means washing the dishes or mowing the lawn or playing soccer, do your very best.”

“Leave this program better than you found it. And that means after you leave this team, be sure to make a mark in your community. Become involved and make it better.”

“Don’t waste your breath complaining, it’s a privilege to compete and play and work hard! Enjoy it! Go out there and have fun!”

Sports have taught me how to be a part of a team and work with all different types of people. Some of those teammates have become lifelong friends and others have taught me how to get along with different types of personalities. Working together with people is part of life and there is no better way to learn that than on a team. Teamwork is a lifelong skill to be developed. I cherish the friends that I’ve made through sports while we bonded over blood, sweat, tears and laughter – lots of laughter! Developing close friends along the way is one of the biggest benefits of team sports. There is acceptance and like-mindedness among teammates that may be more difficult to find socially outside of sports. I grew up with a sense of belonging because of my involvement in team sports. Friendships come easily!

Other benefits of sports also include confidence, empowerment, personal health and wellness (mental and physical), satisfaction from being a part of a united goal or setting and attaining individual ones.

Sports are like a school of life and the lessons learned are invaluable. As those thoughts of quitting came into my head for that morning workout long ago, thoughts of finishing and pushing through the pain also come and keep coming years after that one moment in each new phase of my life, and they overpower anything else. I can do this!